Edible Decor

Fill apothecary jars with bright colored candy. It makes an eye-catching display and your guests can help themselves.

Spooky Banner

It is easy to create an inexpensive banner for any occasion. Print the letters on card stock. Make the ruffled border with a sheet of decorative paper cut into strips, accordion-folded, then glued to the back of each letter. Punch a hole in the ruffles and thread a piece of ribbon or twine through for hanging.

Coffee Filter Garland

Adorn all your chairs with festive garland. To make these you need a bunch of coffee filters, a needle, and some ribbon or twine. When you're done with the chairs, make garland for your fireplace mantel, window or staircase banister. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Countdown Calendar

Kids love to count down the days until Halloween. Use a bulletin board, mini paper bags and printable numbers to create this easy countdown calendar. Fill the bags with mini candy bars, gumballs or notes. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Picture-Frame Lanterns

Guide your guests to the front door with illuminated picture lanterns. To make these, four inexpensive picture frames are nailed together to make a square. Halloween drawings are printed on vellum paper then inserted into the frames, then a candle is set inside the frames. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Specimen Jars

Fill old glass jars with plastic rats, toy bugs and doll heads then add a little colored water. Use manila tags to name your specimen – shrunken heads, poisonous tarantulas, baby rats and the like – and wrap the jar with twine and the tag.

Terrariums

No need for a green thumb. All you need are recycled food jars, twigs, black spray paint, a little cotton and a few toy spiders. Paint the jar lids and twigs black. Then fill the inside of the lids with dirt, twigs, spiders and cotton ghosts. Screw the jars onto the lids and place the terrariums on the windowsill. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Paper Lantern

To make your Halloween night or evening party really scary, embellish inexpensive paper lanterns with spiders, bugs and creepy-crawlies made from card stock.

Eight-Legged Cake

Cover a plain box cake with black icing to create a little critter then add cute spider eyes and eight polka-dot legs. This simple project is perfect for a children's party or school gathering. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Welcome Trick-or-Treaters

Dress up your entry with a spider-web welcome sign. Remove the glass from a thrift-store picture frame, fastened small tacks onto the back of the frame then zigzag ribbon and stretchy cotton across the tacks to create a web. Interlace some spiders and "welcome" letters into the web. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

"Dripping" Candles

Dribble glue from a hot-glue gun all over a piece of PVC pipe and a foam cup to make what looks like a long-burning candle. Insert a much-safer battery-operated tealight in the middle to make the candle glow. If the candles are placed under a black light, they will glow in the dark – perfect for any haunted house. Get the step-by-step instructions >>